


Teach Me

by Poke_Melody



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Gen, Leo is a book nerd, Other, Reader Insert, Reader is Felicia's and Flora's younger sister, Tags to be added, Takes place during Birthright, he wants another book nerd to be his friend, illiterate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2020-05-28 13:34:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19395199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poke_Melody/pseuds/Poke_Melody
Summary: (name) had worked for the Royal Family ever since she was a child.  Never having the chance to go to school or any of the other servants having time, she had never had the chance to learn how to read.At least until Prince Leo offers to tutor her.





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story I've been playing around for a while. Leo is of my favorite characters in Fates. I so wanted to marry him in game but if just felt so weird having my unit marry someone she grew up believing was her little brother. So I thought I'd make a reader x Leo story where the Reader is not Corrin.

“Oh, (name)!” called one of the castle chefs as (name) walked by, grabbing the maid’s attention.

“Yes? Do you need something?”

“Yeah, could you bring this tea to Prince Leo’s room? I’d do it myself but I’m busy preparing dinner.” he said as he handed her a tray with a teapot and cup on top.

“Of course. Leave it to me.” (name) smiled as she grabbed the tray and made her way up to the Prince Leo’s room.

It did not take (name) long to reach her destination. Once she had arrived at Prince Leo’s door she gave the door a hard knock.

“Prince Leo! I’ve come with your tea, sir!” she called.

“Come in, leave it on my desk.” came his answer.

She had carefully opened the door while balancing the tray in one hand, and had stepped in. It wasn’t (name)’s first time in Prince Leo’s room, far from it actually. As a maid, one of her many duties was to fetch things for the Princes and Princesses of Nohr so she has passed through their rooms to deliver something to either of them several times. She started to make her way toward Prince Leo’s desk. What was normally a very clean and organized room was looking rather cluttered today.

‘Prince Leo must be leaving on a trip soon.’ (name) thought to herself. The Prince’s room tended to be on the messy side when he was busy getting ready to go somewhere. Thinking back, (name) recalls a few days ago when she was sweeping in the hall she overheard Prince Xander asking Prince Leo to go on a small trip to see Princess Corrin.

When she set the tray on the desk she began to head out but something had caught her eye. It was a book, and a very pretty book too. The edges of the pages had a gold color to them and the writing was very neat. She was about to reach for it to take a quick look at what the inside looked like but a voice stopped her.

“(name)? Is everything alright?” (name) jumped at the sudden presence of Prince Leo.

“O-oh, yes. I’m sorry milord, it’s just the book on your desk caught my attention. It’s very pretty.” (name) bowed apologetically. “If it’s alright, may I ask what the story is about?”

“Story?” Leo smirked. “It’s not a story book, it’s a map book.”

“Oh it is? I’m sorry for assuming.”

“(name), it says ‘Geography of Nohr’ right on the cover, you didn’t see it?”

“N-Not really, milord.” the maid smiled sheepishly.

“(name), do you know how to read?” the prince asked.

“No I don’t, sir. I was never able to go to school unlike my sisters so I never had the chance to learn how.” (name) looked down in embarrassment. It was pretty humiliating having to tell the prince you serve that you aren’t able to read. “I’ve been working in the castle for so long and none of the other servants were able to teach me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” said Leo. Suddenly feeling foolish knowing that it was because of his family that she never got the chance to go to school or even learn how to read. “May I ask if you like stories at least?”

“Oh, I really love stories. Felicia and Flora used to read to me a lot before they were assigned to serve Lady Corrin. We were in the middle of a very good story when they had to leave.” (name) smiled sadly.

“What was the book?”

“I don’t quite remember the name, but it was about a princess in hiding. She needed to make her way to the castle and convince the decoy princess that she’s the real one and that they’re both in danger before or enemies catch her.”

“Oh, you’re talking about Palace of Mirrors, aren’t you?”

“Yes! That’s the one!” (name) clapped her hands together in remembrance, but blushing when she realized she had raised her voice in front of the prince and began to bow. “I’m very sorry for raising my voice, milord. I just got a bit excited.”

“It’s no problem at all, (name).” Leo responded. “Um, how would you like it... if I were to teach you how to read?”  
(name) took a sharp breath in, surprised at the prince’s suggestion.

“No, Lord Leo. I couldn’t ask you to do something like that, it wouldn’t be right.”

“But I want to.” Leo smiled. “It’s rare for me to find someone who shares an interest in stories and I feel partly to blame for you never being able to learn. You are also not asking me, I’m offering.”

(name) fiddled with the bottom of her skirt, at a loss for words at the prince’s generous offer. She knew as a maid, she should decline. It would be wrong if the prince were to teach someone like her how to read. But she would love to be able to finish the book herself. Ever since her sisters left to serve Princess Corrin, she has also been feeling a bit lonely. Having someone to spend time and read with actually sounded very nice.

“Okay.” (name) smiled then bowed. “I would love for you to teach me, Lord Leo. Thank you very much.”

“It’s no problem But just to give you a small warning, I’m a tough teacher.” said Leo smirking.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (name) begins her lessons with Lord Leo.

(name) performed her duties with a small skip in her step. Lord Leo was coming back from visiting Princess Corrin today and they were supposed to start her lessons. She had also overheard that if Princess Corrin where to pass a test Lord Xander was to give her in a few weeks then she and her retainers where to come to Castle Krakenburg. Which meant that her sisters would be coming to visit as well.

She made quick work of her chores, hoping to start her lessons as soon as Lord Leo was ready for her. She went through her mental checklist when she neared the end of her duties. 

Sweep the halls? Check.

Wash the dishes? Check.

Dust the bookshelves? Check.

(name) went through a few other of her daily duties and had completed everything an hour earlier than she usually did. She didn’t know if she could wait until Lord Leo sent someone to get her, she was just too excited.

While waiting, (name) had busied herself with helping the other servants of the castle with their duties. While organizing things on a shelf, a servant approached (name).

“(name), Lord Leo has requested your presence in his quarters.” the older man said.

“Thank you, Wilhelm.” (name) smiled. “I’ll head over there right now.”

“Be careful, (name).” whispered Wilhelm as she walked past him. “I don’t like the idea of someone like you being alone with someone in power like Lord Leo.”

(name) just chuckled at her fellow servant’s warning. Wilhelm had always been a bit over protective. He was like a father to her, considering she was here since she was very young and never got the chance to get to know her real father. He was always looking out for her, especially with the other male occupants of the castle. 

Nothing like that had ever really happened before at the castle, so she couldn’t quite see why Wilhelm was so paranoid. But she had heard that he did have a young daughter back home so maybe it was just from him being an actual father that he treats a girl around the same age as his daughter like this.

“Don’t worry, Wilhelm. I’ll be fine.” she smiled before walking off toward Lord Leo’s room.

Wilhelm was a fairly old man. Probably only a few years younger then Sir Gunther. Quite a few wrinkles marking his features, but (name) will admit he was fairly handsome. She can only wonder how much of a looker he was back in the day.

He was also still pretty strong. Apparently he had trained to be a knight, but suffered an injury and was no longer able to keep up with his fellow knights.

(name) had finally reached Lord Leo’s door and gave it a hard knock.

“Lord Leo, it’s (name). You summoned for me?”

Prince Leo had opened the door, a gentle smile on his face.

“Yes I did, (name). I came back from visiting my sister a few hours ago and recalled I had promised to tutor you in reading.”

“You’ve been back for a few hours already? I’m sorry, sir. If I’d known when you were arriving home I would have welcomed you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” the prince waved his hand dismissively. “You were probably busy with your duties anyway. Come, I have a spot for us at my desk.”

(name) had followed Leo over to his desk which now had two chairs in front of it, along with a stack of books.

“Thankfully, Elise still had her books from when she was learning to read so we’ll use them.” Leo said taking a seat while (name) took the other. “They are a bit childish, but very useful for beginners.”

(name) began to feel slightly self-conscious at Lord Leo’s statement. Here she was, at eighteen years old and reading books meant for small children because she never learned. It’s not like she expected to jump straight into huge books with small text, but it was still a bit embarrassing to have to read children’s books when other people her age where reading complex stories. Well, everyone has to start somewhere, right? 

“So to start out, I think we should focus on reading letters out loud.” he said as he pulled out a thin book. He opened it up to reveal that pages had letters in large print with some smaller... words? Underneath. 

“Right here is a letter,” the prince had pointed to the letter in large text. “and here is how you pronounce the letter.”

His finger moved down to what (name) thought where words.

“I want to first see what you know so I know what you do need to learn. I want you to go through all the letters and to sound them out for me, okay?”

“Yes sir.” (name) replied.

\----

It had taken (name) a while; probably a full hour, but she had finally made it through the alphabet twice. Lord Leo had helped her with most of them. She was beyond frustrated with herself. Here she thought she was pretty smart for someone who had never gone to school, yet here she was proving herself wrong.

“You did really well.” the prince said, giving her a gentle smile.

“You really think so?” (name) asked.

“Yes, it took Elise about three hours for her to get past the first half of the alphabet. Granted she kept on getting distracted but that’s beside the point.” Lord Leo then turned to another page in the book that definitely had words on it this time. “Now that you know how to pronounce letters individually, I want you to try and sound out some of these words. You don’t need to worry if you don’t know what they mean, just try your best for now.”

“Right.”

\----

This part was even harder then the last. It must have taken (name) twice as long to read these then when she was reading letters individually. She really got stuck with letters that made a new sound when put together. Like ‘th’, ‘sh’, ‘wh’, and others like that.

She hung her head in shame, she felt like she wasting Lord Leo’s time with this.

“You did very well.” said Leo, surprising the maid.

“You’re just saying that, Milord. That had to have taken me more than last time to read.”

“I mean it. You are actually a fast learner from what I can tell.” the prince looked out his window to see that it was now night time. “I think we should call it a day. It’ll be dinner for me soon and I’m sure the others are wondering where you are.”

With that, he stood up and walked (name) to his door.

“Thank you again, Lord Leo. You have no idea how much this means to me.” (name) smiled before bowing.

“It’s no trouble at all. In fact, I do enjoy your company and I hope we can continue tomorrow at the same time. Would that be alright?”

“Yes, of course. I-I guess I’ll see you then, sir.” (name) smiled before making her way back to the servants quarters.  
(name) couldn’t help but blush at Lord Leo’s praise. Maybe she was smarter than she thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I remember learning to read was pretty hard for me growing up. I was put in a lot of reading improvement classes from elementary school to middle school. But I am thankful for those classes now. I don't even know if I'd be at the level of writing I'm at now if it weren't for those classes.


	3. UPDATE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a small update on this story

I have not abandoned this story!! It's just a lot of my time has been focusing on writing stuff for Three Houses lol

I was looking through this story though to see where I left off and I'm seeing so many typo's and errors that I'm embarrassed. 

So! I'll keep this story up for now, and I'm going to start rewriting. Like I'm currently doing with some other stories, in order to avoid leaving them on hiatus and cliffhangers, I'm going to do my best with writing them out beforehand. Then, once they're done, update them weekly. So once I'm done re-writing and finishing this story, I'll start uploading it again. But until then, I leave this up, I'll let you all know when I start posting the new one.

Thank you all for reading ^-^

**Author's Note:**

> Palace of Mirrors was always my favorite book growing up. During the book fair when I was in school it grabbed my attention. I must have read it over ten times back then. I don't think I could bring myself to re-read it now though. I have such good memories of that book and I have a feeling that if I read it now it wouldn't be as good as I remember and ruin it for me.
> 
> I really loved stories about princesses and things like that growing up which is probably why I fell in love with the Fire Emblem series.


End file.
